KENDRAPARA: At least 16 marine fishermen of West Bengal were arrested by Forest officials on charges of illegally fishing in seawater of Gahirmatha marine sanctuary in the district on Wednesday night. Two fishing trawlers were seized from them.
Informing this here, Forest Range Officer of Gahirmatha Srirampada Arabinda Mishra said, “We have seized 15 quintals of fish from both the trawlers. All marine fishermen have been directed not to fish within 20 km from the coastline in the sanctuary covering 1,360 sq km in the sea from Hukitola to Dhamra.”
"They were arrested under sections-27 and 29 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. On Thursday, they were produced in JMFC court at Rajnagar. The court rejected their bail applications and remanded them in jail custody," he added.
“While 16 turtle protection camps, including three offshore at Agaranashi, Barunei and Babubali islands have been set up to protect turtles, forest guards have been deployed to check illegal fishing. Marine police stations at Kharinashi and Paradip along with Coast Guard are helping the forest officials prevent the illegal fishing, said the forest officer.
Last year, forest officials had arrested 481 fishermen and seized 65 fishing vessels on the charges of illegally fishing in the sanctuary. “This year, we have already arrested 398 fishermen and seized 52 vessels with the help of Coast Guard and Marine Police,” he said.
In 1997, The Government had clamped a ban on fishing in the Gahiramatha marine sanctuary to protect the marine turtles in winter when lakhs of turtles come to the coast for laying eggs. Gahiramatha beach is the largest rookery of the sea turtles in the world. The ban has been imposed on all types of fishing for seven months every year from November 1 to May 31 to save the endangered marine species.